Worlds Collide
Chapter Two – 'Summoning Courage'
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Beca hurried down the street trying to get to the studio as quickly as possible. Her mind was working overtime trying to combat all the different thoughts currently flying through her brain; she had a meeting to attend first thing with Stacie about working with an up and coming artist who they both thought had huge potential. She also had a meeting with Cynthia Rose and Jessica scheduled to discuss possible advertising ideas to ensure the studio maximum media awareness; business was doing well but they were yet to sign that one big client; a major client signing would definitely help in guiding other prominent artists to follow suit, and then they could finally start to expand the business. Beca had always been good at keeping her head in the game, but today she was struggling, she really was trying to focus on the issues she wanted to bring up in the meetings, but there was something blocking her thoughts from forming coherently...a singular thought that kept pushing its way to the front of her mind...and this thought consisted of blue eyes and fiery red hair. Try as she might she just couldn't stop thinking about the woman she had just met.
As she rounded the last corner she walked up to the front entrance of the studio, she glanced at her watch and grimaced as she realised she was indeed late. Beca walked through the small lobby area of the building and was greeted by a loud warm welcome of "Hi there short stack!" from the receptionist - an Australian woman named Fat Amy (there was a reasoning behind the name, Amy's own doing, she insisted she be called that so that "twig bitches" didn't call her it behind her back) - yeah Amy was eccentric to say the least, but she was good at her job and the incoming clients loved her. "I've asked you not to call me that a million times Amy, I'm not short!" Beca grumbled. "Did someone roll out of bed on the wrong side this morning grumpy pants?" Amy enquired. "I could pick you up and spin you around and around until your mood improves if you like, I've done the same for some sour looking kangaroo's before ya know!?" Amy devilishly asked. "Come near me and feel my wrath" Beca warned as she walked past Amy shooting her a quick glare jokingly, and continued through a door to the back of the room.
Beca continued down a corridor and headed into the elevator pushing the 2nd floor button. The building consisted of a reception, bathroom and staff room on the ground floor, two studios, a bathroom and a small kitchen area on the first floor and four offices on the second, final floor. Cynthia Rose had the largest office, with Beca, Stacie and Jessica all having their own smaller offices along the same corridor. Beca exited the elevator and headed down the corridor stopping briefly in her office to discard her now empty coffee cup and drop her keys and wallet on her desk. She left her office and carried on down the corridor. Upon arrival at her desired destination she knocked quickly three times on a wooden door that held a bronze sign signalling that the office belonged to 'Stacie Conrad – Talent Manager'. Straight away she heard Stacie call for her to come in and as Beca swung open the door and entered she was greeted by the tall brunette stood leaning against her desk with a wide smile aimed at Beca.
"I'm sorry I'm late Stace, I've had a weird morning!" Beca apologised as she moved to sit on the sofa nestled against the back wall of the office. She and Stacie had been friends for a long time; they started at the studio together at the same time, and although their personalities differed greatly; Beca being sarcastic and mostly reserved, whereas Stacie was confident and talkative and extremely flirtatious, they bonded easily and truth be told, Beca considered Stacie to be her closest friend. "Care to expand on that short stuff"? Stacie asked. "Really Stace…when are you going to stop calling me short? Compared to you, anyone would seem vertically challenged – it's not my fault you are a giant!" Beca said with a voice laced with sarcasm. Stacie, who stood at 5ft 8 inches, raised her shoulders in a shrug not phased at all by her friends' comments. She simply continued to look at Beca with expectant eyes until the music producer took the hint and proceeded to explain why her morning had been 'weird'.
Beca relayed the events of the day so far and by the time she had finished her account of her morning she was smiling widely, something that did not go unnoticed by her friend. Stacie returned the smile and elbowed the brunette gently in the ribs. "So has shorty finally snagged herself a date?!" Stacie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively which caused Beca to blush furiously. "What…uh no…why would you…I mean who said anything about a date?" Beca was spluttering, her eyes looking anywhere but at Stacie. "Well, you said 'she was seriously hot ', your words shorty not mine" Stacie explained. "I mean I just figured that if you are actually attracted to her, which come on, you haven't shown any interest in anyone in god knows how long, then you would have least walked away with a date?" Stacie knew that Beca was very reserved when it came to dating, in fact, in the whole time the two had known each other she hadn't seen Beca go on one single date. She knew that Beca had major trust and abandonment issues and that it was a miracle in itself that Beca had even noticed someone, but she could never stop in her unwavering attempts to get Beca to finally loosen up and just have a bit of fun, hell maybe even find someone worthy of a relationship with the closed off woman. All in all she just wanted her friend to be happy; she knew that the brunette was lonely. "Just because I thought she was attractive doesn't mean that she thinks the same about me Stace, I don't even know if she's into women!" Beca exclaimed. "So go find out" Stacie replied. Beca just looked at her dumfounded. "Oh, just go and find out….yeah Stace it's that simple" Beca scoffed in surprise. "Yes it is" Stacie deadpanned. "What's the problem here Beca, you know where she works, go and see her and ask for her number. Tell her you are an idiot and that you should have asked her earlier but you were in a rush". "I don't know Stace, what if she says no?" Beca near whispered. Stacie could tell that Beca wanted too, it was just her damn stubbornness and lack of confidence holding her back. She resolved to convince the small brunette during the course of their meeting, which they really should get started with. It was her mission – Stacie would get Beca to see the redhead again today if it was the last thing she did.
Beca left Stacie's office a little over two hours later. They had finally moved on to business topics and had managed to arrange a date and time for Beca to meet with the potential new artist. The artist; had just moved out to LA from her home country of Sweden, she was gradually building her fan base there but had wanted to expand her audience and hoped that by working with a producer in Los Angeles it would help start her career in the US. Beca was excited about her upcoming meeting with the woman scheduled for Monday morning and already had multiple ideas about what kind of sound they would be going for. Stacie had filled her in on all the things she needed to know about the artist, her style of music and singing, and how long they would have to complete the new project.
Beca walked back into her office and started up her computer. While she waited for it to spring to life she sat back in her leather chair and contemplated what Stacie had said to her earlier about Chloe. She knew the taller brunette was right, she was attracted to Chloe and the fact that the redhead had not left her mind since their encounter that morning only further confirmed it. Beca Mitchell worked to a plan, she worked hard, and she invested all of her time and energy into music. When she wasn't in the studio she was working on her own personal mixes, she had at least 200+ usb drives at home filled with different songs, mixes and mash ups. She worked hard because one day, she wanted all of this for herself; she wanted her own studio and her own production company. Dating did not factor into this plan, it never had. But there was a nagging thought in Beca's mind, the thought of 'what if'. Two little words that she was now drowning in. 'What if, she was meant to bump into Chloe'? 'What if, there was a reason why the queue was that long in Starbucks this morning, she had never even contemplated going to a different coffee shop before, and on the one day that she did, Chloe literally crashed her way into Beca's life'. 'What if, she was supposed to be with Chloe Beale?' As Beca's computer whirred to life, she loaded her emails and calendar. She was pleasantly surprised to see an email from Cynthia Rose apologising that she would need to reschedule their planned meeting for a different day next week. This freed up Beca's day, she had a conference call scheduled for in 15 minutes time, but she didn't have any clients booked into the studio for the afternoon, and so she decided to head back down to Stacie's office to see what her friend had planned for the day.
Stacie had some late afternoon appointments but it was decided that after Beca had completed the conference skype chat with an artist in Seattle, that they would meet up and go for lunch together. Beca informed her that she had indeed thought about what Stacie had said to her regarding Chloe, and that she needed her help to formulate a plan. Stacie grinned ecstatically at this prospect and by lunch time they were sat opposite each other at a corner table tucked away at the back of their favourite diner. Stacie did indeed have multiple ideas about how to find out if the redhead was interested in Beca; however Beca quickly vetoed all suggestions as they mainly involved Beca taking her clothes off or storming in to the flower shop and kissing the redhead without even a word being said. After the 5th suggested plan of the same sort Beca sighed. "No Stacie, I need something subtle, I'm not good with words, you know that, and judging from earlier when I couldn't even form proper sentences around her, I'm going to need a plan that even I can't screw up!". Stacie felt for her friend, she herself never had any problems in the dating department and sometimes forgot that Beca was a little socially awkward and not as willing to take risks as she was. "Ok look, you don't need some big fancy plan, just go into her shop and strike up a conversation. I promise you Beca, you'll be able to tell if she's into you, if she flirts, you're in!" Stacie smiled at Beca, and put her hand on her friends shoulder in a reassuring squeeze. "I've got to go, work commitments and all, but promise me you'll go Beca?" Beca looked at her friend as they stood ready to leave, both dropping some money on the table to cover their bill and nodded her head. "Ok….I promise".
Beca walked the route back to the spot where she had met Chloe earlier that morning, her hands were sweating and she was having a hard time keeping her cool together as with every step closer she got more and more anxious about what she was going to say. She had no idea why she was so nervous, she had only met this woman once and already Beca knew that if she saw that sexy smile and those beautiful eyes one more time then she would be hooked; there would be no escaping the fact that she, Beca Mitchell, was crushing hard on the enigmatic woman, she wouldn't be able to hide it, she wouldn't be able to deny it…Chloe already felt like a beat cursing through her mind; much like when Beca had an idea for a new mix, she wouldn't be able to get that beat out of her mind until she weaved in some bass and intricate musical parts until finally she had the perfect end product, Chloe Beale was that steady beat…relentless in her mind…but Beca was already hoping that the perfect end result would be a date with the gorgeous woman.
Beca stopped walking when she saw the sight in front of her. She could see the front of the flower shop, the big bold brightly coloured sign hanging above the door which read 'Perfect Petals', the benches with multiple buckets all filled to the brim with every kind of flower ranging in sizes and colours. The door was closed but she could see a sign in the window that said 'we are open, come on in!'. The whole front of the building gave off a welcoming friendly vibe and as she started to walk towards it she took a sharp step to the left and instead opened the door that she had earlier stepped through only to be sent falling to the floor. As Beca entered the coffee shop she saw the same man stood behind the counter, he was currently passing a cup to a man who then moved towards a table to take a seat. When Carl's eyes lifted to see his next customer, he was surprised to see the woman who had earlier been sat in his doorway after his favourite customer had literally bowled her over. "Umm Hi, I know this is a bit of an odd request, but I was wondering if you remembered me from this morning?" Beca enquired. "Of course Miss, how can I be of assistance?" the barista asked. "Well I just wondered if you knew the woman who was in here earlier, the one that knocked me over?" Beca could instantly see the worried look in the man's eye and assured him that she wasn't looking for any trouble, and that she just wanted to buy her a coffee as a means of saying thank you for buying her drink this morning. "it's just I don't know what she likes, so I figured if she was maybe a regular, what with her working next door, that she might have a preferred order?" Beca rambled. Carl chucked at the small brunette telling her that what she was doing was really sweet and that he would get Chloe's drink ready for her.
Beca left the coffee shop with Chloe's drink in her hand; a Grande vanilla latte with extra cream. She inhaled a deep breath and readied herself for her next task….actually entering the flower shop.
As Beca entered through the door she noted that the shop was small but cosy, that same welcoming presence evident inside as well as outside. There were no customers in the shop and the counter was empty of employees. Beca spotted a small silver bell on the counter next to a hand written note which told her to 'ring for assistance'. Beca took one more settling breath as she lightly tapped the bell.
Chloe was busy in the back of her shop; her current bouquet arrangement was not going to plan. She had already re-started it three times. Her mind had been on the small brunette that she had crashed into earlier, and her lack of focus was severely disrupting her creative work. Not to mention the fact that she had stabbed herself multiple times on the thorns of the yellow roses she was working with. As she caught her finger on the prickly offender once more she couldn't help but smile…yellow roses were her favourites, everyone always went for the cliché of red roses, however Chloe loved the yellow ones. They reminded her of sunshine and happiness. She absentmindedly found her mind drifting to thoughts of Beca again; she wondered what the girls' favourite flower was and if she would ever get the chance to ask her. She hoped that she would see the pretty brunette again, she was still mad at herself for not asking for the girls number, but she had no details about the other woman apart from her name, Beca had hurried out of the coffee shop before Chloe could put her mind in gear about asking the woman out on a date, what hope did she have of ever seeing her again now. Chloe subconsciously pouted. She heard the bell from the front of the shop ring signalling that a customer required some help. Still slightly sulking at her previous thought, Chloe removed her apron and stepped through the doorway from the back of the shop.
When she took the last step forward that propelled her into the main section of her shop she stopped dead in her tracks. Her heart stopped beating and her brain struggled to process the scene in front of her. There, stood on the other side of the counter, was no other than the girl that had been occupying her thoughts all day.
Beca stood facing the redhead, her mouth had gone dry and she was struggling to form words. She noted that Chloe hadn't moved, she was stood still just staring at Beca. 'Oh crap this was definitely not a good idea' Beca thought to herself. She started to internally panic, 'oh crap crap crap, what was I thinking listening to Stacie! Of course she doesn't like me the same way, she probably thinks I'm some sort of stalker weirdo!' Beca started to take a step back, the welcoming smile that was previously on her face faltering. This motion seemed to make the gingers senses finally kick in as she took in the realisation that Beca was actually in front of her, she had sought her out, and of her own accord showed up at her place of work to see her! She quickly noted the panicked look in Beca's eye and launched herself in the brunette's direction, determined to not let her leave. She threw her arms around Beca's neck and nuzzled her face close to the shorter girls' ear as she smiled ecstatically and said "You came to see me!" Beca was acutely aware of how close the redheads body was to her own, she wasn't used to physical contact and in a normal situation she would of violently jerked away and scowled at the offender, but oddly enough, this time she didn't want to, Beca leaned in a little closer and smiled at the sensation of being so close to Chloe. With one final quick squeeze of the redhead's body, Beca stepped back a little. "Of course I did Red" she chuckled, relived that her initial assessment of the situation had been wrong. Chloe genuinely seemed thrilled to see her and Beca's heart filled with hope. "I bought you a coffee" Beca said as she pointed towards the counter where she had set the cup down. Chloe lifted the cup to her mouth and took in the sweet scent of her favourite drink. "How did you know this was my all-time favourite drink?" Chloe asked shocked that the brunette had managed such a feat. "I had a little help from Carl" Beca sheepishly replied.
Chloe slowly sauntered back towards Beca and lent in slowly, she placed a soft quick kiss on Beca's cheek that made an immediate blush sweep up the brunettes face. "Thank you" Chloe whispered as she let her breath tickle the area around Beca's ear. It was at that moment that the door to Chloe's shop opened as a couple holding hands walked in talking animatedly about the type of flowers they wanted to look at. Beca took a step back and said in a gentle voice that she should let Chloe get back to work. Before she turned to leave she leant in close to Chloe one more time and whispered "Turn your cup around" as she turned on her heels and walked out through the door, looking back to shoot a smirk and a wink in Chloe's direction. Chloe lifted the cup and quickly turned it around in her hands. On the back of the cup in scrawled block writing was a telephone number and a message that read 'CALL ME'. Chloe's smile reached all new proportions as she set the cup carefully down on the counter and walked towards her customers.